Minden could see coldest New Year’s week
As 2018 quickly approaches, the city of Minden looks to encounter one of the coldest first weeks in its history.
The temperature drops are set to begin in earnest on New Year’s Eve Sunday night, with a low of 19 degrees. The forecasted high on New Year’s Day is currently 32 degrees with a low of 17. According to the National Weather Service, hard freezes are expected Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night.
Davyon Hill, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Shreveport, said the low range of these temperatures may not quite set the record for the Minden area. However, the high ranges might.
“The lowest temperature we have in Minden on New Year’s Day is 11 degrees in 1928,” Hill said. “As far as the lows go, we probably won’t beat that this year. But we may approach some record lowest on the high side. The lowest high temperature on New Year’s Day in Minden is 34 in 1991. We’re going to be right around there.”
The only current precipitation on the forecast as of Thursday is a slight chance of rain Saturday night going into Sunday.
“There could be a brief wintry mix: slight freezing, drizzle, a little bit of sleet,” Hill said. “It’s going to be very light, whatever it is. At the moment, it doesn’t look like it’ll be much of an issue.”
Hill said next week’s night temperatures could get even lower than the current forecasts, but it is still too far out to tell.
“When you get these cold systems like this and you get calm skies in a rural area like Minden, sometimes they tend to radiate out a little more than expected,” he said. “Sometimes when that happens you could start getting closer to the lower teens instead of middle teens. It’ll just depends on how quickly the winds will come and if we’ll have clear skies. It’s a little early to tell, but it bears watching to see if it may approach record temperatures.”
Regardless of the potential for record lows, the initial week of 2018 will certainly be one of the coldest in recent memory.
“It’s been quite a while since we’ve approached these kinds of temperatures at this time of year,” Hill said. “It looks like it could have been 2001 since we’ve had similar temperatures.”